Analysis of the performance of CMOS APS imagers after proton damage

Abstract

In this work we have irradiated a standard commercial CMOS imager with a 24 MeV proton beam at INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Catania (Italy) up to a nominal fluence of 1014 [protons/cm-2]. The device under test was a standard VGA detector, fabricated with a 130 nm technology without radiation hardening. During the irradiation the detector was operated to monitor the progressive damaging of the sensor and the associated on-pixel electronics. After 18 months from the irradiation damage session, with the detector stored at room temperature, a study on the detection efficiency and charge collection capability has been carried out using fluorescent X-ray photons, emitted from copper target. We found that the detector is still working at 1013 protons/cm2, with a moderate increase of the noise and a slightly decrease of the detection capabilities. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl.